Background Information

May 1983 a principal in St. Louis, Missouri ordered that two pages of the school newspaper, Spectrum, be deleted. One article was about a students' experiences with pregnancy and the other was about the impact of divorced parents on the students. The principal at Hazelwood East High School believed that the student in the pregnancy story could be easily identified regardless of not being stated in the story. He also believed that it discussed sexual activity not suitable for younger students. In addition to this he believed the other story was not fair to the parents because a student complained about their father's behavior and the parent should have been able to defend himself. He also did not belief the two articles fit into the journalist rules of fairness and privacy. The 3 student editors completely disagreed and filed a suit against the principal and the school. They believed that the principal violated their First Amendment rights. In May 1985 a federal district court ruled in favor of the principle. However, In July 1986 a federal appeals court overturned the ruling. In 1987 the Supreme Court took the case.